The Use and Semantic Evolution of the Characteristic Word"Yang"in the Min Dialect
Through the analysis of historical documents and the statistical study of toponymic corpora,it has been found that the use of"Yang"as a common place name in the Min dialect area is widespread,originally used for field names,and later expanded to other types of place names.The paper analyzes the semantic evolution of the term"Yang",which initially referred to a specific river and subsequently developed into an adjective that conveys the meanings of having a grand water flow and a vast water surface or vast.Then,guided by the principles of linguistic economy and first word of abbreviation,"Yangtian"was abbreviated to"Yang",making"Yang"a noun representing field-related meanings.A piece of farmland can serve as a landmark for a place,and landmarks can be used to name locations."Yang"becomes a term for the name of places.
Min dialectspecific wordsYangplace namesemantic evolution
万方数据
